Pakistan’s Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar has announced that the general elections, which were initially supposed to be based on the 2023 census, will be delayed until 2024. Tarar stated that it would not be feasible to hold the elections before January or February of 2024 due to the time required for the delimitation process.
During a meeting of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the new census results were unanimously approved. According to Article 51 of the Constitution, the general elections for the national and provincial assemblies will be conducted based on the constituencies published by the Commission.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) is responsible for completing the delimitation process within a maximum of 120 days. However, the ECP has the discretion to decide when to start the process. Tarar emphasized that the census results show that the provinces’ share in the general seats of the National Assembly will remain unchanged in the upcoming elections.
While the outer limit for the entire process is set at 120 days, Tarar mentioned that effective work could reduce this timeframe. He estimated that an additional 54 days would be required for the general elections. Therefore, the entire process should ideally be completed within 150 to 165 days.
Tarar revealed that all eight members of the CCI, including PM Shehbaz Sharif, the four chief ministers, and other attendees, agreed to hold the forthcoming elections based on the 2023 census. The CCI meeting concluded with the unanimous approval of the digital census results.
However, due to the need for a fresh delimitation exercise based on the new census, the general elections are now expected to be delayed by a couple of months. As per the law, if a new census is notified, the ECP must conduct elections based on the updated data.
It is worth noting that the ruling coalition has agreed to dissolve the National Assembly prematurely on August 9, allowing the electoral body 90 days to conduct the polls. The two main coalition partners, namely the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), hold differing views on the census issue. The MQM-P has emphasized that elections based on the previous enumeration would not be acceptable, while the PPP has called for elections to be held on the basis of the 2017 census.
The official gazette notification of the new digital census is expected to play a crucial role in whether the general elections will proceed next year. If the CCI approves the census for this year, it would legally require the ECP to conduct fresh delimitation, as stated in Article 51(5) of the Constitution.
Overall, the decision to delay the general elections until 2024 based on the 2023 census has been made to ensure accuracy and fairness in constituency representation, although it has caused divisions and differing opinions among coalition partners. The ECP will now work towards completing the delimitation process within the allotted timeframe, as Pakistan awaits the next phase of its democratic process.
